So here we are at the end of May, the start of British summertime (ahem) and the end of thousands of British students’ arts degrees. And what better way than to celebrate this coming out into society than with a look at some of the top talent in the country today? So all you students hanging out in the provinces, creating quietly in the towns, and even you rowdy lot in the cities, we want to see your work!

If you are about to graduate your third year of a BA course in art and design in the UK, you are eligible to enter the It’s Nice That Graduates to become one of the class of 2013. For the last four years running we have successfully championed the work of some of the best young creatives working today, and now’s your chance to join them. So, if you fancy having your work on the It’s Nice That site and coming to a fantastic networking event in the summer to meet all the other super talented grads, apply now!

We are very pleased that The It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 will once again be supported by Represent Recruitment who are themselves celebrating being ten years old this summer. The graphic design recruitment specialists have developed a peerless reputation working with designers of all levels and matching them up with the right positions in some of the top agencies around. Represent’s support has helped us grow the Graudate scheme over recent years and we are thrilled they have partnered with us again in 2013.

1. Your full name
2. Your university’s name
3. Your full course name
4. Your contact details (email address and telephone number)
5. Three projects you think best represent you and your work. We request you send up to three images per project, along with a 50-75 word explanation. (Please send images at 72dpi.)

The closing date for submissions is midnight on Tuesday June 25.

The Mill Co. Project Desk Space Challenge

This year we are very excited to announce a new competition in association with Mill Co. to run alongside The Graduates to win a six month desk space in trendy Haggerston at The Mill Co. Project which is “a social enterprise scheme designed to create an environment in which independent designers and artists can flourish and work both independently and as part of a community.” Basically a big building full of artists and creatives.

This desk space will open up a whole new world of potential collaborations and community-based projects to kickstart your career, plus essentials like internet access and meeting facilities. The competition is simple, all you need to do is design an item that could potentially be sold in The Mill Co. Store, a place where resident artists and designers sell their wares. From t-shirts to tea towels and from mugs to stationery, this is your chance to create a limited edition, beautiful, artisan piece to be sold in the store. The best product submitted will win the desk space. So what are you waiting for?

Alex Walker

One of last year’s Graduates, Alex is responsible for the fantastic illustrations on the Graduates 2013 visual identity. Together with 2011 It’s Nice That Graduate and now top designer Bruce Usher he has ensured that The Graduates identity is one of the best we’ve had.

It’s that time of the year again! Like the annual family get-together which sees you dragged reluctantly around a huge mahogany dining table with the large majority of your extended family to coo about how “well” (read: fat) you’re looking, we’re catching up with last years Graduates! Except our mahogany table is this website, and we’re cooing not about weight gain, but about all the cool stuff they’ve been doing. Without further ado then, here are Oliver Jennings, Bianca Tuckwell and Callum Green to update us on all of there achievements since last summer.h3. Callum Green -

It’s hot, it’s summer, University is over and you’re spending your time wandering dazed between the wildest festivals that the country has to offer. As part of the It’s Nice That Graduates 2013 (supported again by Represent Recruitment) we have teamed up with The Mill Co. Project to offer all the recent art and design graduates in the country the chance to win a very, very exciting prize.

And so we’ve almost reached the final curtain for our Graduates class of 2013, with just two more young talents to introduce to you. But turn that frown upside down dear reader because there’s no let-up in quality, as proved by penultimate graduate Charlie Patterson. Having studied graphic design at Chelsea, Charlie has a predictably good grounding in the fundamental skills, but where he really stands out is through his playful and interesting ideas.

Photographer Luisa Whitton is a serious Japanophile. When she’s not walking the streets of Osaka and Tokyo capturing locals doing their thing, she’s deep within the country’s robotic research facilities cataloguing the synthetic faces, mechanical arms and cold, dead stares of the very latest in technological innovation. The robot interest has also come into play in another personal project that’s seen her hack an Xbox Kinect to make it into a rudimentary photographic device.

Kingston’s graphic design course have done it once again with our next Graduate 2013, Matthew Hill. He’s a designer more than willing to clamber outside of the box and get his hands dirty coming up with new and innovative design solutions.

Edward Monaghan is very much his own man. Upon arriving at Central Saint Martins three years ago he quickly decided that the prescriptive nature of his illustration course was not especially to his tastes and set about creating his own curriculum; learning the tools of the trade that he wanted to practice and making work motivated by his own interests. While that might not make him the most commercially-minded graduate out there, what he has managed to achieve is an extraordinary body of illustration and comics in a style that’s reached a level of refinement well beyond his years.